Present slitting and rewinding machines used for the preparation of tapes of paper, plastics material or other material, commonly are equipped with multi-blade cutting rollers under which sheet material from a load coil located upstream of the cutting rollers passes downstream of the cutting rollers and is wound into finished coils.
In these machines, the finished coils of material are removed when the outside diameter of the finished coil reaches a maximum permitted diameter as related to the width of the coiled strip.
Each time a finished coil of cut strip material reaches that maximum diameter, it is necessary to stop the machine, sever the strips, secure the trailing cut ends to their associated finished coils, discharge the finished coils, load a new core for the next coils, and connect the leading ends of the strips to the newly loaded core. Even if the sheet material to be cut can be supplied continuously, the machines must be kept idle for fairly long periods of time.
Another condition detectable in the present plants is that trademarks, signs, decorations, addresses, information drawings or other printed indicia are present on the cut strips. The printing operation is at present carried out preceding or following the cutting of the sheet material. This requires further steps of unwinding and rewinding of the sheet material or cut strips, with consequent losses in time in the loading, discharge, and connection of the end of the strips of sheet material to another core.